Concrete Jungle, Prologue
by scout27
Summary: This little drabble is based on the TV show characters, NOT the book characters. Serena van der Woodsen had a long train ride to think about the reasons she was heading back to the concrete jungle; to her home. Unexpectedly continued in Concrete Jungle.


_**Concrete Jungle**_

_click-clack, click-clack, click-clack, click-clack_

The train chattered at a steady pace as it raced through the Connecticut countryside; the sun hanging low in the sky outside the clouded window like the ray of bright flashlight shining through a smudged piece of wax paper. Serena hated riding the train. It was usually crowded, dirty, loud, and annoying and she wasn't sure if she could handle any of the above today.

She would normally have taken a car sent by her mother to get home, but today was different and she couldn't be bothered with the wait. Not to mention the fact that her mother was the last person she wanted to accept anything from right now.

Serena blew a stray piece of blond hair from her face and let her head hit the dirty window with a thud as she thought about the conversation she'd had with her mom earlier that day. The conversation that finally shattered the remainder of the tactically created and put together Upper East Side facade that years of tradition and living with her ever elegant and proper mother had blessed her with.

_"Serena, I really don't think that's necessary," Lily van __der__ Woodsen__ sighed._

_"Not necessary?" Serena demanded into her cell phone as she stomped up the stairs to her room at Hanover Academy for Girls attempting to find some__ privacy; a seemingly impossible task at an__ all girls boarding school. "You honestly think I'm going to listen to the person who got him where he is in the first place?"_

_"Watch your tone young lady," Lily snapped. "You have no idea what's been going on here lately so don't go throwing around rash __accusations__ about this situation."_

_Serena sighed and took a deep breath. __Now, a__fter 17 years her mother had dec__ided to actually mother? __This was not the way to get information from __Lily__ and right now that was exactly what __Serena__ needed. She only cared about one thing, finding out if her brother was okay._

_"I'm sorry Mom. It's just…I'm freaking out here. I can't stay at Hanover any more. I need to be with Eric. I'm coming home today and we can talk then."_

_"What about your __classes__?" Her mother was caving (not that it mattered, she would be leaving regardless), Serena could tell. Maybe the sole reason Lily had even called as soon as she had was for the very purpose of getting her daughter home so she wouldn't feel so guilty for leaving Eric alone for her afternoon teas and manicures or blow-outs at Frederik Fekkai. Serena couldn't help but sadly realize that, with her mother, such selfish acts were always a possibility. _

_"I don't care about that right now Mom, and frankly, __I'm__ not sure how you could either," Serena snapped. "I know what I need to do, where I need to be." Why __had it taken__ something like this to make her realize something she should have known all along? "I'll start back at Constance next week. I'm packing what I need and I'm leaving today."_

_Lily was silent for a moment on the other en__d of the line. "Assuming they let you back in," she clipped. "__At least let me send a car for you."_

_"No, I could be halfway home before a car even gets here. I'll take a train. Just have someone pick me up at Grand Central this afternoon," Serena could feel the tears that had been threatening __to spill__ since her mother had called welling up in the corners of her eyes and she swiped at them angrily with the back of her free hand. This __was the icing o__n the cake that was the, mostly, self-__made__ nightmare consisting of the past year of her life._

_Lily almost whispered into the phone as if she didn't want her daughter to hear. __"Fine.__ I will be at the Waldorf's this afternoon for an important party. You will come to the party and talk to me before you go anywhere else. Do you understand?" _

_"You're leaving him?! You can NOT be serious!" Serena yelped as she slammed her door and began tossing clothes into an open,__ dark gray__ Louis __Vuitton__ suitcase__ with __little brown __L's and V'__s covering it.__ She couldn't help but wonder w__hen and why__ petty shit like a designer suitcase__ was__ so important to her._

_"Serena, he's in good hands. He's resting. There's nothing more I can do for him right now," Lily stated._

_She was sick of her mother__'__s excuses. "Except__** be**__ there, but you were never very good at that were you Mom?" Serena dug, going for the jugular. No use holding back now.__ She was pissed, she was helpless, and she was scared and __damnit__ to hell; someone was going to hear about it. Rationality had taken the first car out of town the minute her phone rang that morning.  
_

_She knew she'd gone too far when she was greeted by a moment of silence__ that lasted just a little too long__. "I can't miss this party, and you __**will**__ see me before seeing your brother. I'll make sure the driver is well aware of this." Lily said in a toneless voice._

_"Fine."__ Serena spit through her tears as she slammed her phone shut. She sat hard on her stiff boa__rding sc__hool bed for the last time and he let her long blond hair __shield__ her face from the world before she had to look up one more time and stare the reality of the situation right in the ugly face._

An hour and a half later and she was finally passing in to New York. Soon the serene peace of the country would fade and the concrete jungle would appear and she would be home again. And this time, everything would be different. She would make sure of that.

_Just because you grew up a girl in this world, doesn't mean that you have to let this world determine the __woman you__ are going to become._


End file.
